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AMERICAN    DENTISTRY. 


ADDRESS 


DELIVERED    BEFORE    THE 


AMERICAN  ACADEMY  OF  DENTAL  SCIENCE, 


TWENTY-THIRD   ANNUAL  MEETING, 


BOSTON,   NOVEMBER    12,    1890, 


BY 

W.   W.    H.   THACKSTON,   M.D.,  D.D.S., 

Of  Farmville,  Virginia. 


BOSTON: 
ROCKWELL    AND    CHURCHILL,    PRINTERS 

1891. 


AMERICAN    DENTISTRY. 


ADDRESS 


DELIVERED     BEFORE    THK 


AMERICAN  ACADEMY  OF  DENTAL  SCIENCE, 


TWENTY-THIRD   ANNUAL  MEETING, 


HELD     IN 


BOSTON,   NOVEMBER    12,    1890, 


BY 

W.   W.    H.   THACKSTON,    M.D.,  D.D.S., 

Of  Farmville,  Virginia. 


BOSTON : 

rockwi:ll  and  churchill,  printers. 

I89I. 


283  Dartmouth  Street,  Boston,  Nov.  20,  1890. 
W.  W.  H.  Thackston,  M.D.,  D.D.S.,  Farmville,   Virginia:  — 

My  dear  Doctor,  —  I  have  the  honor  to  infonn  jou  that  at  the  twenty-third 
annual  meeting  of  the  "American  Academy  of  Dental  Science,"  held  at  Young's 
Hotel,  in  Boston,  on  Wednesday,  the  twelfth  of  November,  it  was  unanimously 

Resolved,  That  the  thanks  and  congratulations  of  the  Society  be  tendered  to 
Dr.  Thackston  for  his  very  able  and  instructive  address  ;  that  a  copy  be  requested 
for  publication  and  for  preservation  among  the  records  of  the  Academy. 

Hoping  for  your  consent  to  the  expression  herein  contained,  I  am, 

Yours  very  truly, 

EUGENE    H.    SMITH, 
Chairman  Rxecutive  Comtnitlee. 


Farmville,  Va  ,  Nov.  24,  1890. 
Eugene  H.   Smith,  D.M.D.,  Chairman  of  Rxecutive  Commiitee  :  — 

Dear  Doctor,  —  Your  kind  favor  of  the  20th  inst.  to  hand,  and  herewith  I 
beg  to  submit  reply. 

Most  highly  appreciating  the  estimate  of  my  "  Annual  Address "  by  the 
"Academy  of  Dental  Science,"  and  its  complimentary  action  in  asking  its  publi- 
cation, while  an  unanticipated  and  agreeable  surprise,  will  meet  no  objection  on 
my  part. 

The  "Address  "  was  prepared  solely  for  the  "  Academy,"  and  I  regard  it  as 
the  property  of  that  institution,  to  be  disposed  of  as  the  Academy  may  elect  or 
determine. 

If,  as  appears,  it  is  thought  worthy,  and  that  publication  of  the  paper  in 
pamphlet  form  will  in  any  wise  advance  the  interests  of  "  American  Dentistry," 
I  not  only  consent,  but  shall  be  glad  to  see  it  in  print;  not,  however,  from  any 
personal  idea  of  the  merit  of  the  address,  as  I  am  no  judge  of  what  I  do  in  that 
line,  and  rely  wholly  upon  the  discretion  of  my  friends. 

Allow  me,  my  dear  doctor,  to  thank  you  for  the  gracious  and  elegant  manner 
in  which  you  communicated  the  views  and  wishes  of  the  "  Academy,"  for  which 
I  feel  more  indebted  to  your  personal  regard  and  professional  friendship  than  to 
any  excellence  in  the  address  itself. 

With  every  good  wish  for  yourself,  and  the  continued  success  of  the  Academy 
of  Dental  Science,  I  beg  to  remain. 

Faithfully'  yours, 

W.  W.  H.  THACKSTON. 


AMERICAN   DENTISTRY. 


Mr.  President  and  Gentlemen  of  the  American  Academy  of  Dental 
Science :  ^~ 

In  attempting  to  meet  the  requirements  of  this  important  occasion, 
this  commanding  assembly  of  professional  men,  and  in  the  desire  in 
some  measure  to  fulfil  the  expectations  and  requite  the  high  honor  it 
has  been  .your  pleasure  to  confer  upon  me,  I  have  naturally  been 
embarrassed  in  the  selection  of  a  fitting  theme  for  entertainment, 
instruction,  and  professional  profit. 

"American  Dentistry," — 'and  in  the  outset  I  take  leave  to  proclaim 
that  it  is  no  misnomer,  that  it  is  an  entity,  that  there  is  such  a  thing  as 
"American  Dentistry,"  and  that  it  stands  out  upon  the  pages  of  con- 
temporaneous history  in  broad  and  inefiaceable  lines,  with  as  dis- 
tinguishing diflierences  and  characteristics  as  mark  the  nationalities,  the 
languages,  the  customs,  and  modes  of  thought  and  expression  of  the 
peoples  of  all  civilization.  And  in  saying  this,  I  do  not  mean  to  under- 
rate or  disparage  anything  good  in  European,  Asiatic,  nor  the  den- 
tistry of  any  other  land  or  people.  I  remember  with  gratitude,  and 
acknowledge  with  pride,  the  labors,  the  researches  and  discoveries 
of  the  illustrious  men  of  France,  of  Germany,  and  of  England,  — • 
names  imperishable  and  immortal, —great  men  working  upon  different 
lines  to  a  common  centre  and  end,  but  all  failing  to  evolve  or  crystallize 
a  compact  and  symmetrical  department  of  true  and  accepted  science. 

But  to  resume  our  line  of  thought:  for  fifty  years  "American 
Dentistry"  has  been  systematically  and  steadily  making  requisition 
and  levying  tribute  upon  all  the  collateral  and  kindred  departments  of 
science,  and  upon  nearly  all  the  other  sources  of  human  knowledge. 
The  "  Curricula"  of  our  academics,  colleges,  and  universities  com- 
prise all  that  is  considered  essential  in  preliminary  education  and  train- 
ing, and  our  standard  and  current  literature  teems  and  overflows  with 
the  announcement  and  discusi^ion  of  the  advances  and  discoveries  of 
almost  each  diurnal  revoluti(Mi  (jf  the  earth. 


Most  of  the  old  subjects  have  been  threshed  and  winnowed  until 
hardly  a  grain  is  left,  and  the  relatively  new  ones  of  Histology, 
Microscopy,  Bacteriology,  Pyorrhoea  Alveolaris,  I'oot-filling,  and  im- 
plantation, comprise  a  bill  of  fare  of  which  you  are  invited  to  partake 
at  alil^ost  each  of  your  daily  meals  ;  and,  as  variety  is  said  to  be  both 
spicy  and  wholesome,  I  have  selected  "The  yEsthetic  Demands  of 
Dental  Science"  as  the  base  of  comment  on  the  present  occasion. 

Of  course,  I  pi'emise  and  assume  that  the  first  and  highest  office  and 
prerogative  of  dental  science  and  practice  is  the  hygienic  protection 
and  preservation  of  the  dental  organism  from  disease  and  decay  ;  its 
second,  such  operative  and  remedial  assistance  as  will  repair  the  lesions 
and  damage  of  accident  or  disease,  and  to  restore  the  teeth  as  nearly  as 
practicable  to  their  pristine  shapes,  their  original  symmetry  and  beauty 
of  outline,  and  to  comfortable  and  effective  usefulness ;  the  construc- 
tion of  appliances  for  irregularities  and  congenital  aberrations,  and  such 
surgery  as  may  be  demanded  by  accident  or  diseased  condition  of  the 
mouth  and  its  appendages  ;  and  lastly,  the  supply  of  artificial  substi- 
tutes for  partial  or  entire  dentures. 

The  animus  and  idea  of  this  address  is  not  only  to  improve  in  some 
degree  our  methods  and  material,  but  to  add  to  our  resources,  and,  as 
far  as  practicable,  to  divest  and  relieve  our  operations  of  the  disgust  and 
dread  with  which  they  are  usually  contemplated,  and  enable  us  to 
achieve  results,  not  only  of  comfort  and  utility,  but  of  symmetry  and 
beauty,  that  will  reflect  credit  and  honor  upon  our  calling,  be  a  joy  to 
ourselves  and  a  benefaction  to  humanity. 

The  relation  of  the  dentist  to  his  clients  (who,  as  a  rule,  comprise 
the  most  cultured  and  refined  of  human  society)  demands  that  he  should 
be  a  gentleman,  in  all  that  the  term  or  designation  implies;  his  apparel, 
while  not  "■  loud  or  dudish,"  should  be  fashionable,  well-fitting  and 
scrupulously  and  faultlessly  clean  ;  his  hands  and  his  nails  should  be 
the  special  objects  of  his  care  and  attention,  as  few  things  are  more  re- 
pulsive, and  justly  offensive,  than  the  introduction  of  soiled  fingers  or 
foul  and  clouded  nails  in  a  human  mouth.  This  may  appear  out  of 
place  in  an  address  to  the  "  Academy  of  Science  ;  "  but  I  grieve  to  say 
that  illustrations  of  carelessness  in  this  particular  have  distinguished 
some  of  bur  best  operators,  and  made  them  the  subjects  of  harsh  criti- 
cism and  revolting  comment,  and  reflected  discredit  and  odium  upon 
modern   dentistry. 


The  deportment  of  the  dentist,  in  his  professional  intercourse,  should 
be  characterized  by  decision  and  firmness,  tempered  and  softened  by 
courtly  manners,  chaste  hmguage,  and  the  observance  of  all  the  rules 
and  requirements  of  polite  and  cultured  society.  No  rudeness  of 
speech  and  no  coarseness  of  manner  should  blur  or  blemish  the 
escutcheon  of  the  accomplished  and  self-respecting  dentist.  The  dental 
office,  the  reception  and  operating  rooms,  should  be  made  inviting  and 
attractive  in  their  equipment  and  appointments;  books,  pictures, 
flowers,  bric-a-brac,  and  musical  instruments  would  not  be  out  of 
place. 

Our  instruments  and  appliances  should  be  of  the  best  procurable 
material  and  workmanship  ;  our  cutters,  our  knives,  lancets,  scissors, 
chisels,  and  excavators  should  be  kept  sharp,  and  they,  and  all  other 
implements,  should  be  thoroughly  cleansed  and  disinfected  after  every 
operation.  The  dentist  should  ever  keep  before  his  mental  vision  the 
maxim  that  "cleanliness  is  next  to  Godliness."  The  operative  im- 
plements and  appliances  of  a  dentist  should  always  be  kept  out  of  view 
until  required  for  actual  use.  A  glittering  array  of  sharpened  and 
pointed  steel  will  often  shock  and  appall  the  timid  patient,  and  be 
suggestive  of  wretchedness  and  torture,  rather  than  relief  and  comfort. 

A  careful  observance  and  cheerful  and  polite  attention  to  the  wants 
and  needs,  the  satisfaction  and  ease,  of  patients  in  the  reception-room 
or  in  the  operating-chair,  and  an  air  and  manner  of  gentleness  and 
sympathy  with  the  timid  and  fearful,  will  largely  disarm  the  dentist's 
office  and  his  operations  of  their  terrors,  and  secure  for  him  the 
respect,  the  confidence,  and  affectionate  regard  of  his  clientele. 

So  much  for  the  characteristics,  the  qualities  and  attributes,  the 
appointments,  paraphernalia,  and  deportment  of  the  dentist  who 
would  be  not  only  faithful  and  thorough,  but  aesthetic,  in  his  pro- 
fessional  ministrations  and  practice. 

We  will  now,  Mr.  President  and  gentlemen  of  the  "  Academy," 
consider  ajsthetics  as  a  practical  requirement  in  advanced  operative 
and  prosthetic  dentistr}'.  And  for  striking  illustration  and  comparison, 
I  select  the  grand,  the  major,  and  commanding  operation  of  tooth- 
filling  luith  gold.^  a  metal  and  material  that  subordinates  and  over- 
shadows all  else  now  known  and  employed  in  the  preservation  of 
decaying  human  teeth,  a  metal  and  material  that  in  purity,  effective- 
ness, and  available  applications  has  stood  the  test  of  ages,  and  given  to 


dental  science  and  dental  art  their  proudest  ta'iumphs  and  brightest 
laurels.  But  with  all  our  trust  and  faith,  our  veneration  and  love,  for 
gold  as  a  restorer  and  preserver  of  teeth,  vv^hile  it  is  yet,  and  has  ever 
been  through  a  long  professional  life,  our  "mainstay"  and  "sheet- 
anchor,"  it  must  be  confessed  and  acknowdedged  that  gold,  while  in- 
comparably the  best-known  material  that  nature,  science,  or  art  has 
yet  supplied,  is  not  the  '•'•ideal"  tooth-filling:  it  is  wanting  in  homo- 
geneity ;  it  forms  no  adhesion  to  tooth  tissue  or  cavity  walls  ;  and  its 
color,  when  placed  in  a  human  tooth,  is  out  of  harmony  with  nature 
and  with  art ;  and  gold,  w^hen  used  as  a  tooth-filling,  should  never  be 
unnecessarily  exposed  or  rendered  needlessly  conspicuous  in  the 
human  mouth. 

It  is  true  that  the  demands  of  tooth  salvation  with  our  present  means 
and  resources  often  impose  the  hard  and  stern  necessity  of  doing 
violence  to  the  expressions  of  nature,  —  our  great  "  model  and  master- 
piece," —  and  of  perverting  and  infracting  the  rules  and  laws  of  art, 
of  harmony,  and  taste. 

To  save  a  human  tooth, — gold  being  our  surest  reliance,  —  we  place 
upon  its  labial  or  other  exposed  surfaces  a  glittering  or  a  shimmering 
yellow  spot  that  offends  the  eye,  and  changes  its  whole  expression. 
This  we  do  as  a  choice  of  evils,  as  our  best  effort  for  the  preservation 
of  organs  of  priceless  value ;  and  we  do  Tvisely  and  we//,  though  we 
secui'e  safety,  comfort,  and  usefulness  at  the  expense  of  harmony  and 
beauty. 

We  sometimes,  with  more  or  less  success,  make  a  compromise  with 
what  are  technically  known  as  "  porcelain  inlays,"  secured  by  the  zinc 
cements,  and  matching  in  color  and  shades  the  natural  teeth  ;  and  this 
practice  deserves  our  commendation  as  an  sesthetie  advance^  and  should 
be  more  generally  accepted  and  employed. 

But,  sirs,  what  a  boon  to  humanity,  what  a  benefaction  to  dental 
science  and  practice,  would  be  the  discovery  of  the  long  sought  and 
long  hoped  for  '•''ideal"  tooth-filling,  —  plastic,  cementitious,  homo- 
geneous, harmonizing  in  color  and  shade  with  the  teeth  in  which  it 
might  be  placed,  unshrinking  and  unexpansive^  unaflected  by  the  secre- 
tions of  the  oral  cavity  and  crystallizing  to  hardness  and  durability, 
imperishable  as  the  tissues,  the  dentine,  and  enamel  from  nature's 
laboratory!  Of  what  this  ideal  tooth-filling  shall  consist,  in  what 
alembic  or  crucible  it  shall  be  found,  I  grieve  and  lament  to  say,  /can- 


not  tell  you ;  its  fortunate  discoverer  will  achieve  an  immortality 
coequal  witli  all  other  great  benefactors  of  humanity.  And  my  selec- 
tion of  the  present  theme  has  been  mainly  for  the  purpose  of  awakening 
the  interest  and  stimulating  the  efforts  and  researches  of  the  "  American 
Academv  of  Dental  Science,"  —  an  organization  so  distinguished  for  its 
talent  and  culture,  and  so  fortunate  in  its  opportunities  and  environments. 

When  we  remember  the  marvellous  and  wonderful  revelations  of 
modern  and  advanced  science  ;  when  we  consider  the  almost  daily 
illustration  of  results  and  achievements  in  chemistry,  in  electricity,  and 
in  almost  all  other  departments  of  science  and  art,  that  a  decade  ago 
were  regarded  as  wild  and  chimerical,  as  the  unreal  fabrics  of  a  dis- 
ordered imagination  ;  when  we  witness  demonstrations  that  challenge 
and  stagger  the  evidence  of  our  senses,  —  is  it  absurd  or  Utopian  to  be- 
lieve and  trust  that  persistent,  intelligent,  and  wisely  directed  eftbrt  and 
research  may  not  vet  be  rewarded  by  what  would  be  the  crowning  tri- 
umph of  the  nineteenth  centur}',  and  one  of  the  grandest  benefactions 
ever  conferred  upon  humanity  ?  I  repeat,  to  what  body  of  "  savans,"  to 
what  organization  of  earnest,  cultured,  and  indefatigable  investigators 
and  explorers  in  the  arcana  of  nature,  science,  and  art,  and  to  what 
organization  more  fortunately  circumstanced  and  environed,  can  we 
more  hopefully  look,  as  successful  searchers  for  our  ideal,  and,  we 
believe,  3et  attainable  tooth-filling,  than  the  "  American  Academy  of 
Dental  Science  "  ? 

As  incentive  and  stimulus,  we  see  what  has  already  been  found  in 
the  zinc  and  vegetable  plastics,  imperfect  and  perishable  as  they  con- 
fessedly are.  And  we  have,  upon  the  authority  of  a  late  distinguished 
professor  in  one  of  the  Philadelphia  schools, — Elisha  Townsend, — 
the  announcement,  that  from  the  ancient  places  of  sepulture  in  the 
Chinese  Empire,  human  teeth  had  been  exhumed  containing  tiUings  of 
a  material  or  composition  perfectly  imitating  the  natural  teeth  in  shade 
and  color,  and  of  a  crystalline,  adamatine  hardness  that  had  not  only 
withstood  the  wear  and  abrasion  of  use  and  the  decomposing  secretions, 
the  acids  and  alkalies  of  the  oral  cavity,  but  all  the  agencies  and 
influences  that  had  fossilized  the  teeth  in  which  they  were  found.  We 
have  also  the  testimony  of  a  credible  observer,  —  Dr.  W.  George 
Heers,  of  Montreal,  Canada,  —  that  he  has  seen  and  examined  such  a 
tilling  in  a  tootii  in  the  mouth  of  a  living  man,  that  had  been  inserted 
by  an  operator  in  the  far  East,  presumably  China  or  Japan. 


8 

We  know  the  teaching  of  our  great  Text-Book,  that  "  there  is 
nothing  new  under  the  sun,"  and  however  much  or  little  of  importance 
may  attach  to  the  two  instances  we  have  mentioned,  we  certainly  know 
that  there  are  lost  arts ;  we  know  that  there  are  undiscovered  things  of 
utility,  value,  and  beauty  that  marked  and  distinguished  the  civilizations 
of  the  remote  and  beclouded  past.  May  not  this  homogeneous  and 
imperishable  tooth-filling  have  been  one  of  them?  and  may  not  its 
re-discovery  emblazon  the  annals  of  *•'  American  Dentistry,"  and  con- 
stitute the  grand  and  crowning  achievement  of  its  Academy  of  "  Dental 
Science  "? 

It  is  true  we  have  metallic  alloys,  plastic  phosphates,  and  vegetable 
preparations  and  compositions  that  subserve  a  valuable  purpose  in 
tooth-saving;  but  they,  as  well  as  gold,  lack  the  qualities  and  charac- 
teristics of  "  ideal  filling,"  being  unsightly,  opaque,  inharmonious, 
and,  as  a  rule,  less  permanent,  less  reliable,  and  far  more  perishable 
than  gold  ;  but  it  must  be  confessed  that  these  materials  are  short  steps, 
if  not  strides,  in  the  right  direction,  and  point  the  way  to  our  coveted 
but  yet  undiscovered  treasure. 

Within  the  last  few  years  —  less  than  a  decade  —  our  prosthetic 
department,  which  had  been  largely  remitted  to  empyrics  and  artisans, 
has  been  lifted  from  the  slough  of  professional  abandonment  and 
debauchery,  rehabilitated,  and  rendered  respectable;  it  once  more 
assumes  its  position  as  an  honorable  and  honored  department  of  our 
calling. 

The  gold,  platina,  the  aluminum  and  electro-deposited  bases,  the 
capping  and  crowning  of  roots  and  stumps  of  teeth,  the  ingeniously 
contrived  and  skilfully  applied  "  removable  bridge  ivork^^'  challenges 
our  recognition,  excites  our  admiration,  and  commands  our  approval. 

'Gold  and  platina  are  again  dual  sovereigns  in  the  dental  laboratory  ; 
whether  they  will  be  dethroned  by  aluminum,  the  wonderful  new 
metal,  the  future  will  determine. 

As  I  have  already  intimated  in  discussing  the  operation  of  tooth- 
filling,  whatever  metal  may  be  employed  in  dental  prosthesis,  whether 
gold,  platina,  aluminum,  or  some  of  the  compounds  and  compositions, 
each  and  all  should  be  kept  as  far  as  possible  out  of  view  in  the 
mouth.  Gold  and  other  metallic  bands  and  crowns  are  good  things, 
but  broad  conspicuous  bands  and  solid  gold  crowns  are  sadly  out  of 
place  upon  the  roots  and  stumps  of  cuspid  and  incisor  teeth. 


Our  ceramic  artists,  our  artificial-tooth  manufacturers,  supply  a  far 
more  ajsthetic  and  harmonious  tooth-ci"own  than  can  be  made  from 
any  of  the  known  metals,  —  a  crown  which,  if  properly  mounted,  is  of 
equal  utility  and  far  greater  satisfaction  to  both  dentist  and  patient.  I 
should  not  dwell  upon  or  emphasize  this  point  in  my  address,  but  since 
the  reintroduction  and  more  general  employment  of  gold  in  our  pros- 
thetic work,  I  have  heard  of,  and  with  my  own  eyes  beheld,  shocking 
examples  and  illustrations  of  a  violation  of  taste,  harmonv,  and  beauty  in 
a  polished,  shining  row  of  solid  gold  crowns,  mounted  upon  the  roots 
and  stumps  of  superior  cuspid  and  incisor  teeth  ;  and  while  the  work 
appeared  to  be  mechanically  well  executed,  it  of  course  presented  a 
most  horrid  travesty  of  all  the  rules  and  laws  of  aesthetic  taste  and 
art,  and  had  been  accepted  and  tolerated  simply  on  the  ground  that 
the    crowns  were  gold. 

And  now,  ]SIr.  President  and  gentlemen,  in  concluding  this  address, 
I  beg  leave  to  say  that  I  honor  the  "  American  Academy  of  Dental 
Science."  I  honor  the  high  position  it  has  taken  and  maintained  as  one 
of  the  most  advanced  and  cultured  scientific  and  professional  organiza- 
tions known  in  the  history  of  "  American  Dentistry  ; "  I  honor  it  for  its 
efforts,  labors,  and  researches,  and  for  the  contributions  it  is  making  to 
the  sum  of  professional  knowledge,  and  look  with  trust  and  confidence 
to  its  help  and  aid  in  exploring  our  yet  untrodden  fields,  and  in  the 
solution  of  our  yet  hidden  problems. 


Date  Due 

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<l) 

RK66 

Thackston 
American  dentistry 


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O-'^d:?^ 


_25  ,  N  4ie-ft. 


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COLUMBIA  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARIES  (hsi.stx) 

RK66T32C.1 


Amei 


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